Ms Hook said while it was intended as a joke, it was true at the time.

"Every single shop in the Main Street had bars, roller shutters that locked, bullnose verandahs so if the shop wasn't open it was a fortress," she said.

"Every town has an element, a bad element you could say."

Turning around a decades-long perception

Property crime rates in Walgett are three times the New South Wales average, so security is still tight.

Wendy Spencer from the Dharriwaa Elders Group said she was worried parts of the town did not look very welcoming.

"We think some people are perhaps a bit scared when they drive through town, but that's just because the shop owners and the businesses here just can't afford to make our shops and premises and shops look as nice as we'd like them," Ms Spencer said.

The general manager of Walgett Shire, Don Ramsland, blames outsiders, including the media, for some of the bad publicity.

"They'll come in from outside of the area and they'll do more damage to our reputation in a five minute broadcast on national TV that would take us five years to overcome," Mr Ramsland said.

"Walgett, particularly, would've been renowned for its bars and very dour shop fronts. The area was always reflected on as being places that weren't safe to visit, weren't safe to stop in as you were travelling through.

"So one of the things we try to do is make sure that when the outside media comes in, that they go away with the right impression, that they don't go away and bag the area."

Financial support to make shopfronts more inviting

The council is fighting back by offering subsidies to help business owners beautify their shopfronts and Mr Ramsland said it was delivering results.

"I believe that these western towns will be little oases in the desert and people will be keen to visit," he said.

Melbourne couple Caroline and Steve Bensted were told by fellow travellers not to stop in Walgett or the nearby towns of Wilcannia and Bourke.

"You don't know if you're going to have a robbery or anything like that, so yeah it makes you more wary," Caroline Bensted said.

Since the airing of the gut-wrenching documentary Leaving Neverland, many of us have wrestled with an uncomfortable, yet essential question: given everything we know, can we continue listening to Michael Jackson's music?